My dear Yielded Family. I just want to express my heartfelt gratitude for your support and love. Thank you for showing up at the event and for being such an amazing people. God bless you. We are back with our blogs. About a week ago , we started the study on a woman in the bible called Leah. If you missed it, l encourage you to search for it on the search bar and read Leah [1]
“When morning came, there was Leah! So Jacob said to Laban, “What is this you have done to me? I served you for Rachel, didn’t I? Why have you deceived me?” Laban replied, “It is not our custom here to give the younger daughter in marriage before the older one.”
Genesis 29:25-26 NIV
Jacob has worked for 7 years to get to marry the love of his life Rachel. It must’ve been some form of dowry. I love this about Jacob, he was a doer. Just to declare this, the man God has for you will see your parents and do the needful. No one will come, like you and just play around. Jacob was in love and he did what he had to do to show that he was serious about Rachel. Effort is a reflection of interest and value. Let’s continue. The evidence from studies on Ancient Israel and Biblical history suggests that men were allowed to marry multiple women and that marriage between cousins was common.
Our first verse talks about the wedding night where Laban, instead of bringing Rachel whom Jacob had worked for, brought Leah, the one Jacob did not love. How could Jacob not see that he married Leah? Darkness could have had something to do with it. Laban could have purposefully waited until it was dark to bring Leah to Jacob because he wanted to make sure they could not see each other. A cheat cheated a cheat. Jacob finally met his match. The deceiver deceived. The betrayer betrayed.
It may have been the custom for the consummation of marriage not to occur until after the late evening. Either way, it was dark, a fact that the Bible mentions. In the darkness you cannot see much or at all. Maybe Leah had a veil and that’s why Jacob did not notice. It is also possible that Leah and Rachel looked similar and were generally the same size, and Jacob couldn’t tell them apart. Orrrrr maybe he just did not imagine that his uncle would do that to him, he trusted him. He never thought he’d someday receive his own plate of disappointment like his brother Esau. Whatsoever a man sows, he shall reap.
We know that Jacob did not love Leah. When he discovers that he had been given her and had already made love to her, he felt disappointed, angry, frustrated. Is it possible that when a partner who doesn’t love you has intercourse with you this is how they feel afterwards? His words are too strong , “ What is this you have done to me?” .. the tone we decipher is definitely an angry tone. Now imagine Leah , after losing her virginity, hears such a thing! That the man who just deflowered her is angered by it. This is the second time her rejection is highlighted.
It could be that Leah and Rachel were fooled as well. Perhaps Laban did not tell his daughters about his arrangement with Jacob and Leah assumed that, according to custom, she (as the older daughter) was to marry Jacob that night. Imagine Leah’s shock and sadness when Jacob woke up upset about having married her and then reveals to her that he had been working seven years for her sister. The “you are not supposed to be here with this title, this position, this access because someone else was preferred,” kind of talk.
Although we’re focusing on Leah, l want to highlight that you could go to bed with Rachel and wake up with Leah. Waking up with what you never desired or asked for. I don’t know how Leah felt at this point. She must’ve cried. I know I would have. She must’ve wondered how her father put her in such a mess. She must’ve wondered why Jacob didn’t like her. She must’ve felt rejected and disappointed. To assume you’re not wanted is different from knowing for a fact that you aren’t. Not wanted by your father who knows he’ll have a hard time getting you married so he cheats you in. Not wanted by a man who just took your virginity. Leah could be a man, It could be a guy facing so much rejection.
When realisation of rejection comes , one may walk away. Others bleed inside but stay. Others create an identity around that. In areas of life where you’ve been rejected although you qualified, I want to encourage you by saying, God accepts you. God loves you. You are seen. You are special. You are deserving. You are loved.
See you tomorrow ❤️
